Golden feels somewhat guilty about showing movies in class because teachers are often judged negatively for it. However, movies can be better learning tools than just showing them to occupy students. Great films are equivalent to classic literature in conveying human experiences and should be viewed as educational texts to analyze. Integrating film into the English classroom can help teach common core standards and engage students through a medium they enjoy. Teachers need not feel guilty about using film judiciously to enhance learning.

1. “’It’s
Movie Day!’
Lights go off, heads go down, and
teachers finally get some grading
done.
Using film in the classroom is
better than this, of course, but
every time I wheel that VCR down
the hallway, I know what the other
teachers– and my principal– are
thinking: ‘Is Golden showing
another movie? Doesn’t he teach
at all?’ All right, maybe they don’t
think that; maybe I only think they
think that, which is just as bad.
Why do we still feel somewhat
guilty about showing a film in
school? Maybe because everyone
in the school knows about that

2. • Why does it have to be like that?
• We, like Golden, are proposing that
it DOESN’T.

3. • Great films are the modern
“
vernacular equivalent of ancient
classics, embodiments of the human
capacity to imagine and create in a
commonly understood language.
Great art represents the highest use
of the creative spirit and provides a
uniquely aesthetic experience. What
others have attained in poetry, prose
fiction, music, theater, ballet, and
opera, filmmakers now attain with

4. “OGRES ARE LIKE ONIONS!”
PEELING BACK THE LAYERS OF FILM AS TEXT
• Studying film as text embraces almost all areas of
English instruction, including media literacy, student
engagement, reading and writing informational text
(through film criticism), differentiating instruction to
accommodate varied learning styles, and developing
a way of teaching students to analyze literature in a
medium that not only piques and keeps their
interest, but also prepares them for high stakes tests
such as the EOC or HSAP.

5. • We’d like to get started with some film clips you might recognize…..
• During this video, we invite you to do the following things:
• 1. Record your initial response to as many of the clips as you can.
• 2. Record any personal connections you make with the scenes as
they play on the screen.
• We’d like you to try to record at least five responses as or after you
watch. Try to record a combination of both initial response and
personal connections.
• (Clip goes here)

6. IF YOU DON’T MIND….
• We now invite you to share one or two (or all!) of your
responses with someone near you.
• What were your reactions? What feelings were elicited?
What memories were stirred?
• Take a minute to share with a neighbor.

7. • “Movies deliver a powerful
emotional impact distinct from
the impact of other media.
This, too, relates to the ability
of moving images to bring
situations and events back to
life on a screen as well as to
aesthetics ” (Nichols).

8. • Brainstorm: What is your
definition of a text?

9. EXPANDING OUR DEFINITION OF “TEXT”
Consider these…
1. Text: A coherent stretch of language that may be regarded as an object of critical
analysis
2. Text: A stretch of language, either in speech or in writing, that is semantically and
pragmatically coherent in its real-world context. A text can range from a single word
to a sequence of utterances and sentences in a speech, a letter, a novel, etc.
(Carter and McCarthy)
So, why not films?
3. “a text may be defined as a relatively independent and hierarchically structured
linguistic unit which reflects a complex state of affairs and has a specific communicative
intention” (Glaser)
Again, why not films?

10. WHY USE FILMS IN THE ELA CLASSROOM?
1. For Engagement and Interest
a. Piquing interest in a topic/skill, maintaining interest in a topic/skill through a medium
in which they are likely already inherently interested
b. “Even contemporary classics…often prove challenging, particularly for reluctant or unenthusiastic
readers. And yet, we want them to understand these works because they have something
important and enduring to say. Using film is a way to help them do this, whether with the filmed
version of the same story, in whole or in part, or a companion text that complements the
themes, characters, setting, or conflicts of that story” (pbs.org).
2. As Valuable supplemental and complementary texts to core
novels/units
a. To EXPAND a unit, rather than make it redundant
3. To both teach and reteach core English skills as defined by the
Common Core Standard initiative
a. Skills and concepts necessary to implement Common Core teaching in your classroom
are easily accessed and honed through film study

11. WHY USE FILM IN THE ELA CLASSROOM?
• ON a basic level, standards aside, we use film in the English Language Arts classroom for
the same reason we teach beloved novels:
• “I think in art, but especially in film, people are trying to confirm their own
existences.” –Jim Morrison
• They transport, inspire, educate, sadden, empower, cheer up, etc. They allow and
encourage escapism.
• Because “every encounter with a cinematic world is more like a guided tour, and
every tour guide, or filmmaker, has her own perspective on the film world she displays
for us. Viewers need not accept the filmmaker‟s perspective, but they cannot escape
it either” (Nichols).
• In short, films accomplish the same things emotionally that any treasured novel
would. They simply must go about it a different way.

12. HOW NOT TO USE FILM (WHAT WE’D LIKE TO MOVE AWAY FROM) 
• The tendency to make a film’s function in the classroom become “reward”
• for “getting through” a unit or “getting through” a novel; for good behavior; in
exchange for completion of other tasks, etc.
• The tendency to use film time as a break from actually teaching
• Lessons and activities using film should be just as rigorous for both student and
teacher
• They should require as much planning and effort in execution as any other stimulating
lesson
• The tendency of English teachers to default to the film-version of a novel
• Supplement and/or complement the core novel/unit as well!

13. AN EXAMPLE OF FILM INTEGRATION IN THE ENGLISH I CLASSROOM
• “It…works well as an introduction to film and literary analysis, since the
characters, conflicts, and themes are obvious, but also meaty enough to
support extended writings and discussions” (Golden 98).
• As you watch the following film clip, we invite you to do the following:
Record any and all examples of literary elements or figurative
language used.
• (Shrek Clip)

14. AN EXAMPLE OF FILM INTEGRATION IN AN ENGLISH I CLASSROOM
• Data Sheets:
• Simple, yet comprehensive snapshot of basic, standards-based, literary analysis skills
• Given as a pre-assessment the first week of school (met with MUCH ADO from my students) on short
story “Shame” by Richard Gregory, with pretty horrendous results
• Enter: Literary Elements Review Unit (in preparation for study of Bronx Masquerade thematic unit)
• Basic lessons on literary elements leading up to scaffolded, 3-day close study of the film “Shrek”
• Students must view film ACTIVELY (stress this!)
• Data Sheet broken up into four independent sections (handouts)
• Students divided into small groups, each group assigned a section of which to take full ownership and
responsibility, although students analyzed film for evidence/examples for ALL sections
• “Jigsawed” all groups’ contributions and conclusions into a collaborative Data Sheet that students
received copies of, referred back to throughout subsequent units

15. SAMPLE END RESULT

16. SAMPLE END RESULT

17. SAMPLE END RESULT

18. SAMPLE END RESULT

19. COMMON CORE STANDARD CORRELATION
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.5 (Language) Demonstrate
understanding of figurative language, word
relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.9-10.5a (Language) Interpret
figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in
context and analyze their role in the text.
• Depending on the task you have students engaging in during a film and the
film you are using, this can be easily applied.

20. COMMON CORE STANDARD CORRELATION
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3 (Reading) Analyze how complex characters
(e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the
course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or
develop the theme.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2 (Reading) Determine a theme or central
idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the
text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific
details; provide an objective summary of the text.
• “Contemporary thinkers on media literacy have argued that the same habits that a good
reader brings to a written text are those that a critical viewer brings to a visual text;
enhancing one effortlessly enhances the other. In both, a critical thinker predicts, makes
connections, infers, asks questions, and interprets. In both, meaning is made through the
details of character, theme, plot, mood, conflict, and symbolism. For both, we must guide
students to be active interpreters” (pbs.org).

21. COMMON CORE STANDARD CORRELATION
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.5 (Reading) Analyze how an author’s choices
concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and
manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as
mystery, tension, or surprise.
• “Film worlds seem autonomous and complete…It is important to
remember, though, that these worlds are the product of a creative process and that
they are seen and represented from the distinct point of view of their creator”
(Nichols).
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.7 (Reading) Analyze the representation of a subject or a
key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent
in each treatment
• In other words, the skill of cross-medium analysis and criticism of the same
text/scene is not completely abandoned by Common Core

22. A LAST THOUGHT…
• “Irony in film is all about „puncturing the expectations of the
viewer‟…we‟re not talking about surprise or twist endings in
film…nor are we talking about satire. The best examples of irony
in film are the ones hinting that the meaning intended by the
director (or writer) is the exact opposite of what he or she
appears to be presenting” (Golden 88-89).
• Critical film analysis can be a rich, multidimensional, meaningful
process for students.